The Inner Monkey & And Ego Death

28 July 2014 – Ok, I found the video again! I will add it below. Enjoy your Trevor.

15 July 2014 Update – The video referenced below disappeared when I had this site redesigned, and I can’t seem to find it again. So I have found another great video about how to calm the monkey mind – all about how meditation helps calm the mind and a humorous story about monkeys. Enjoy.

http://youtu.be/PStsEUSx31Q

I was about to write a blog about what it means to be truly conscious, as opposed to unconscious, when a friend sent me this video, which is in the box to the right (click post title first). UPDATE – Video now below:

It’s a great video, challenging, honest in a raw way – do watch it.

It shows you what your ego is – the monkey mind. This is that impulse in you that…

– Talks when you have nothing much to say

– Shows off in a desperate attempt to get approval

– Spends money on keeping up with the Jones’s that could be used in better ways (did you know the Jones’s actually don’t care about you, they’re too busy keeping up with the Smiths)

(No offense to those with such names LOL)

– Worries about self-image and constantly tries to perfect it

– Loves drama, even when events are excruciatingly painful – loves (ie knows, is familiar with) pain and suffering at some level

– Is self-obsessed and has a very short ‘listening to others’ span, it spends a very large part of the day thinking about itself, mostly unconsciously

– Is pretty boring to others because what it talks about is all rehearsed and already old, it is no different essentially than the next person’s conversation, and the spontaneous freedom to speak engagingly from the heart and in the moment is an alien concept

– Doesn’t want you to be happy and at ease

– Is never EVER at peace, even if all goals etc are achieved – the peace IN THE MOMENT IN ACTUALITY is always lacking

– Is hung up about the past, and regurgitates old memories consciously or sub-consciously, feeling hard done by, insecure and other intense emotions

– Will rarely show what its real feelings are, and may have managed to totally obscure these from view

– Doesn’t know what love is and cannot truly show it, only intellectualize it. If love does sneak out, it is quickly quashed due to embarrassment

– Is more at home with an overall negative frame of mind, as a positive one is another alien concept

– Will do whatever it takes not to lose face rather than admit responsibility and hold its hands up

– Lives a double life – what is real as opposed to what is projected for others

The list can go on. Sounds very harsh, right?

But nonetheless it is so.

And we’re all the same.

But in truth what we are is not the above, but shining Divine Sparks who hide our Light underneath the above monkey traits, which are in fact BOGUS (unreal) aspects of a fictional person that does not exist in reality, only in our perception.

Then, one day, Life comes knocking at our door, and says:

“Oi you, Iam the one you’re supposed to be living, not some twisted, confused, painful concept you have in your mind.”

And Life says some more:

“THIS is where you find that love and fulfillment you have been craving in that desperate, confused way all this time. I’mhere, so let all of that go, it doesn’t work for you – and never did. You can finally relax now.”

So to go back to my inspiration for the blog – what it means to be conscious is to say Yes to Life each time it comes knocking.

This is done by seeing the ego at play within our own life.

When I saw my own ego – all of the above goings on for sure! – at play within me, albeit painful for a time, it was the best thing that ever happened to me. It provided the freedom and peace I had never known, and yet had sought high and low for.

One point on this is that we can only fully enjoy what we consciously know. So having searched for peace and freedom yet not known or understood it, how could I ever experience it fully? It was when I came to know that peace and freedom are already present, that those were suddenly there for the taking. Thus knowing is not an intellectual process, but really a revealing or allowing of whatever is present to just be. It is in other words, removing ourselves out of the way of what is.

If you’re in a place of conflict (and if you’re honest, you will see that you are to some extent or other), then watch this video and apply it to you. Then take heart, take courage, and give that chimp a spanking and put it in its rightful place!

And what’s its rightful place? Well, the chimp’s role is as follows:

– To give us a laugh – first and foremost, we need to laugh at all of what it has been trying to do. It’s an insane ape! Your inner monkey is a total nutter! As such it provides us with the comedy to take life less seriously

– To ensure we don’t get ourselves – or others – injured or killed – it helps us to function in this world of physical form

– To ensure we get stuff done – it helps us to keep on top of what needs to be done according to what we choose to focus on in our daily life and goals.

You get the gist….it is useful, functional. But that’s it.

Of course we don’t actually have a monkey inside us (no, really?), but a metaphor like this is very effective in distancing ourselves from the impetus in us that has us behaving and thinking in the above ways. We are ordinarily too identified with the self-image to notice the difference between reality and non-reality.

And you may ask – but how will my life be if I don’t have the usual definitions and identities that I am used to?

Ah, now, that’s what you need to discover! I cannot tell you that. That’s when life comes alive, and you enter into the exciting unknown, where the goalposts have moved. That’s called awakening. And that’s called a sigh of relief.

In this new paradigm, now it’s you who’s kicking that ball, not watching some chimp make an ass of it. And if you make an ass of it? Well, you just get behind the ball and kick again. What’s the big deal? Who cares what they think? Does it make any difference at all in reality what they think? They’re going to think it anyways!!

Where we face real challenges in daily life, with the monkey put in its place, solutions too are easier to put into place.

Or maybe you choose a different game to play – how about lacrosse?

So the moral of this blog post is: Make sure you give your chimp a good spanking today!

Comments

[..YouTube..] @Rkooner same thing happened to me…It was Frightening and i felt like i was in a nightmare..Scariest thing i have EVER experianced..I didnt talk to anyone for awhile after that shit..I still read spiritual books and do my best but im scared to have another horrible experiance..I personally didnt think i was experiancing ego death …our minds are powerful and stranger things have happened…I also had a similiar experiance using drugs to fast foward ego death…not a good idea

Hi Ginger, I do not have a book – as yet. One in the offing, but not sure how long it will be, hopefully not too long, it will be about spiritual awakening in respect of 2012, once completed you will find it on this blog. I have done a few videos, one or two are on this blog down the right hand side. Interviews are on this page. Thanks for your interest!

I’m confused..What you say makes perfect sense, but I have been told that I must release my monkey into the forest and not be tempted to follow it. If this is my ego surely I cannot live without it? At this point I’m in turmoil and would appreciate any help/advice you could give me.

That’s a very good question, and one that each of us has to face when we are starting to let go of the ego. No such question, no freedom from ego! Your turmoil is also an inevitable part of the journey. No such turmoil initially, no freedom from ego! So it sounds to me you are well on track!

I would say that yes of course we don’t actually want the ego to go completely, since it is needed to function in this life. We are talking about ego death in terms of our attachment / blindness to it, not complete annihilation of it. The trick is to find that naturally felt distance between ego and who we are in essence (which is not ego). From an early age, this distance becomes hidden and the ego mask we wear becomes (in our mind) who we are, as we forget our greatness.

So we enter into the process of seeing the distance. Then once seen, ego is no more of an issue, it is under our control, rather than the reverse.

You may ask: Ok, but how do I do this? And there is no miracle method or practice that will guarantee the desired result. You rather do this just the way you are, and go one step further by realizing that you are not your turmoil, you are not your confusion. These are the cunning little activities of the the ego again. It loves to keep us in some emotional muddle or other!

Because if in truth we are essentially whole, complete, love and light, then all that is not these, just needs to be observed and released, that’s all. In observing, pain disappears eventually and the ego illusion reveals itself. So just accept the confusion and turmoil, say thanks to them for teaching you and then just get on with your day – this is what your ego does not want you to do!

Much of your writing is a little too mystical for my personal taste, but this blog was rather good.
I’m glad I read it through twice because the first time I missed out on some of what you wrote.
The first ever reference to the monkey inside that I read was actually in a scifi novel. It concerned an astronaut who was having difficulty in a weightless environment. A fellow astronaut said that the difficulty was caused by a primitive part of the brain, left over from when we evolved from monkeys, and it was still scared of falling out of a tree. That made quite an impression on me. It was probably because it put into words something that I already half knew by intuition, but could never quite explain before.
Your explanation adds to that knowledge, but I find myself agreeing and disagreeing in about equal measures with the negative points, and mainly agreeing with the positive points.
I am not sure of the correct word to use here, but amusement will do for now I find that playing with, and challenging my “monkey” does provide a good source of amusement.

Hi Bill, thanks for your interesting comment. Certainly the ego seems to be extremely ingrained inside the psyche, much like the primitive part of the brain you mention. Amusement is good, we do take things far too seriously sometimes 🙂 Have a great weekend. Reena

[..YouTube..] Another lesson from watching your AWESOME video: I can watch the ego do it’s thing, I can understand the ego’s efforts to undermine my freedom and joy, BUT I WONT JUDGE IT. I will simply observe it. This constant observation is enough to strip it of its power and influence. THEN my spirit, which is truly all that is, and which is perfect and has all I need, can direct my life and experiences in a manner more towards true joy, freedom, love. No longer the up and down duality of the ego. Thank U!!

[..YouTube..] ..that good to listen into your speek 🙂 feel love ..freedom … peace … to see your eyes … maks me heavenly laughter about ‘the game’ we take taht serious, called ego-games ore as you say ‘the me-identity’ games… … my language is not the english … but its so easy to understand … cause its the truth what talks out of you …..the truth that made us all same …thanks … that you show !!! from the deep of my heart … this is also the best what hapens to me ..to lose my ego….

That was so perfectly said Reena! Wow, thanks for making sense of a some what disturbing video/message .. but i guess at some point we have to face our ‘Trevor’ and just let him it Go! I love the way you put all of that in perspective. Good work!

[..YouTube..] @thisNewFoundLand I would tend to agree with you. I see many people describing awakening / enlightenment as emotion-less, and it’s not been like that for me. The difference – and what I am grateful for – is that I no longer have any need to deny or make emotion bad. This is real freedom, allowing life to be Thanks for the insights.

[..YouTube..] @Rkooner If it helps, my own experience involved the void, not knowing, emptiness and pain. What happens is that because of this frightening place we go into our pain, and come out the other side, changed but human.

[..YouTube..] continued… i come out of that experience, not knowing who I am anymore. However I know my ego is still there, and since that experience.. There is alot of suffering, I don’t know who I am anymore, yet there is no “bliss”. I feel lost. Is this suffering natural? I attempt to accept it, yet it is so hard to accept this suffering.

[..YouTube..] Hey I don’t now if you reply to comments but a few days ago, I had this intense pain arrive in my chest during meditation, it started off small but as it was witnessed, it increased in intensity, to the point where the pain was unbearable and it felt like i was dying. I screamed and cried, and the pain dispersed. I let go as much as I could. Following that experience, a really deep silence remained, and nothing else. The silence remained for I don’t recall how long. I come out of that experience

[..YouTube..] …being without resistance is a great point. this need not imply an absence of emotion; it is the capacity to experience immediately (to “not mediate”). emotions are instructive/creative when acknowledged – always leading us to our beliefs. anyone experiencing an awakening sees through many beliefs in an instant; and that can be threatening. the common notion is that a master has no emotion — such a heroic myth. emotions are colours – primary to physicality.nice dialogue. thanks.

[..YouTube..] @loveofmarley99 Agree to some extent. Language presents its limitations, but it is what we have to express and discuss. It matters less what ‘a truly awakened person would consider’ as about our own conscious state and ability to be present to the Now. There is no fixed awakened state that one can arrive at in reality, only a dance of attachment vs non-attachment. We just go with the flow. Namaste

[..YouTube..] Happened to me randomly after trauma…took several weeks, but my old self is completely gone, and now I simply have consciousness. No emotions, no desires, nothing…simply a void…Very difficult adjustment…

[..YouTube..] Ego death can be catalyzed by mind altering drugs, but its the skill of holding the experience beyond the effects of the drug, and integrating it into your daily life. You might need to be somewhat already spiritually aware to successfully do it. MDMA, DMT, and Salvia Divinorum work, but not on their own.

[..YouTube..] @drourke Probably so, however true ego death is rather an awakened state within daily life on a sustained basis rather than one that is induced by an external substance as a one-off…The latter is IMHO a short-cut (albeit a great pointer) and doesn’t address the healing journey that cannot be avoided when all is said and done…Peace

[..YouTube..] Ego death is very achievable and is a term coined by a man who reached such a state of being through the use of psychedelic drugs. Give nearly anyone a large enough dose of psilocybin and it is bound to happen….

[..YouTube..] Thanks for the comment, much appreciated. After ‘the experience’ that’s when the journey really begins as one by one, that which is hidden becomes revealed…:-) Love & Light(If these comments appear twice it’s a youtube thing….0-)